Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Sept. 27 aboard the dedicated “FedEx Panda Express” Boeing 777. The pair is not yet on public display and will spend about a month in routine quarantine at the zoo.
Their arrival is part of a new conservation agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The bears will stay in a biosecure area of the zoo’s new panda complex. Zoo Atlanta says it is the only zoo in the Southeast with pandas and one of three in the U.S.; the others are the National Zoo in Washington and the San Diego Zoo.
At the White House on Sept. 24, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the pandas an “envoy of friendship” between China and the United States. U.S. zoos have hosted pandas at various times since 1972, a tradition known as “panda diplomacy.”
